O'Reilly Frees OpenSources: Voices From the Revolution

Sebastopol, CA -- O'Reilly & Associates announced today that they a
are making the entire new book, OpenSources: Voices From the
Open Source Revolutionfreely
available on their web site
"Open Sources" is a collections of essays that offer insight into
how the Open Source movement works, why it succeeds, and
where it is going.

"Of course, the hardcopy of the book will still be available for sale
at bookstores," said Tim O'Reilly, president of O'Reilly & Associates,
"But we felt that especially now, these are voices that must be heard.
A key part of the success of Open Source depends on the easy
dissemination of information over the Internet, so making it possible
for people to freely redistribute these essays will help to spread
the good word. The book is freely redistributable but not modifiable
(which means it isn't open source by the terms of the Open Source
Definition) because of the differences between software and a
of opinion essay like this."

Each of the fourteen co-authors contributed a chapter to Open Sources
Not surprisingly within this community, all chose to allow their work to be
freely re-distributable, as long as it wasn't modified.

"The more people understand Open Source, the more they will
demand it in their commercial environments." said co-author
Michael Tiemann, "We are pleased that O'Reilly has made the bold
move to promote the Open Sources book with an open source
distribution policy. I have little doubt that such a move will
increase the sales volume of this already popular book".
Co-author Eric Raymond agreed: "'OpenSources' is important as a
primary historical source. It is front-line reporting from the
people who were there when the wave broke."

"O'Reilly & Associates and the other authors have joined to do the right
thing--to permit redistribution of the rest of this book. Next I hope
that ORA and authors will join to permit redistribution and modification of
some of their manuals describing free software packages--to help fill
the great gaps in documentation that remain in our free operating systems."
said co-author, Richard Stallman.

On the other hand, Eric Raymond stated: "Unlike some, I don't think it's
an ethical requirement that this book be freely redistributable; books
are different from programs, they don't need peer review and rapid evolution
in the same way. Still, I may have been the first person to do simultaneous
paper and on-line publication of a book aimed at the mass market (the New
Hacker's Dictionary back in 1991). If that experience is any guide,
publishing this book on line will actually *increase* its sales."

What the Critics Have Said About
"OpenSources: Voices From the Open Source Revolution"

"What you can't find on the Web, apart from all the fragments, is a really
comprehensive account of the (Open Source) movement. For that you need Open
Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution from O'Reilly." --David
Warsh, Boston Globe, February 28, 1999

"Maybe because I read it in one sitting in a hotel on the edge of San
Francisco's Mission district, where many of the Net's architects still live
and work and where Hotwired, the first website I wrote for is located, I
was blown away by Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source
Revolution, published by O'Reilly ($24.95). I've been struggling to learn
about OS and free software and to acquire and learn Linux on my new box. I'm
not there yet, but I'm not inclined to quit, and the voices in the book
explain why. The programmers, hackers, and others developing OS are freedom
fighters, guerillas of the Information Age; the Open Source and Free
Software movements are both radical and unprecedented. There's a lot at
stake in whether or not they succeed; whether the Internet remains the
freest culture in the world or suffers the fate of off-line media --
becoming corporatized, homogenized, mass-marketed and pervasively censored.
Open Sources is an important document, and this is the first of several
columns about it. Every significant movement seems to have a book that
sparks or defines it, from environmentalism's Silent Spring to Mao's little
red book. Open Sources is that kind of ideological book... When I began
reading the voices in Open Sources - including Richard Stallman of the Free
Software Foundation, Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly & Associates, Bruce Perens
and Eric Raymond of the Open Source Initiative, and Linus Torvalds (Linux)
- I expected to hear a description of a new kind of technology. But what's
captured is the birth of a movement. --Jan Katz, slashdot.org, March 1999

"O'Reilly & Associates continues to impress me as a publisher. This week I
received Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution, which I'm
about a third through now, and find informative and fascinating." --Mark
Hall, Performance Computing, February 1999

"Open Sources is a book of readings and one of the best reads I've had
in years... If you are just being introduced to Free Software, you will
find no better introduction to the thinking behind it than Open Sources. If
you have been into Free Software for a year or two, Open Sources will
give you a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of it. If you are an old
Free Software hacker, Open Sources will give you fresh and fascinating
glimpses into the minds of its creators, movers and shakers... In the end,
there is absolutely nothing bad to say about Open Sources except that if
you can't afford to buy a copy you might just have to steal one." --Dwight
Johnson, Linux Today, February 25, 1999

If you develop software, or run a company that does, Open Sources is a
must-read. This is Hackers (Steven Levy's classic portrayal of early
microcomputer software renegades) for the next generation. It may also be a
manifesto for software development and marketing in the next century. Open
Sources brings together 14 of the brightest, most influential visionaries
in the dynamic open-source movement to discuss the past and future of
open-source software. Their fascinating first-person insider accounts range
from the story of Linux by Linus Torvalds and a free-software manifesto by
Richard Stallman to an essay on how to make money selling free software by
RedHat Software, Inc. President Robert Young... This is one of those rare
books that define a new paradigm. Highly recommended. --Amara D. Angelica,
TechWeek, March 8, 1999

"Looking for a really good book about the Open Source concept? Then get a
copy of the book entitled OpenSources: Voices From the Open Source
Revolution... both entertaining and educational, and exposes the reader to
some very creative minds who are destined to shape the future of our
industry."-John Black, Real-Time Engineering, Spring 1999

"an excellent and fascinating look... well written and readable account with
some genuinely interesting insights."-Nick Merritt, PC Answers, May 1999

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